Adam Jones admits he’s still a work in progress

Adam Jones is willing, and eager to tell anyone who will listen he’s not the same man who was once known as Pacman.

But that doesn’t mean he’s a finished product.

The NFL didn’t flinch from having him come to the Rookie Symposium as a speaker after his June 10 arrest for misdemeanor assault for an incident outside a bar, and Jones said that it’s evidence that maturity is not a one-step process.

During an interview with FOXSports.com’s Alex Marvez and Jim Miller on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Jones called that incident “one hiccup.”

“Me being confronted or touched with a particular object, that’s an area I have to work on,” Jones said. “If it had been anything else, I probably would have walked away. But when I’m being physically touched …

“Nothing happens overnight. I’ve made a lot of changes. I don’t go out to the places I used to. I don’t hang with the people I used to hang with. The only thing I can control is what I’m doing in the community. Being a great father at home. My fiancée is very happy. I’m good with my teammates. I’m not out getting drunk all through the night. I’m not out at 3 or 4 in the morning. If you recall, the incident happened at 10:15. I didn’t have a drink. The young lady that was in the party was drinking.”

Of course, learning to step away from potentially dangerous situations is exactly the kind of thing the league’s trying to teach its rookies this week.

Jones said he mostly avoids his hometown of Atlanta, where too many friends and family members still refer to him by his old nickname.

“It’s not that I can’t handle it. But the crowd I used to hang with, they’re still doing the same things and don’t have anything to lose,” Jones said. “When I was hanging with them and doing the things they were doing, there was nobody there to tell me, ‘No, Pac. You shouldn’t go in the strip club tonight. No, Pac. It isn’t cool that you want to fight that dude.’ With time, you grow. . . .

“Everybody when I’m in Atlanta wants to come to my house to get in the pool and drink liquor. I’m not with that. The last time I went home there was no liquor at my house. If you are coming over here, don’t bring liquor – period. But people have to live and learn and want to do better. I’m a true believer in that.”

Jones has a powerful message to share. If he can put his words into practice, and stay out of the headlines for the wrong reasons, the message gains strength.

OK, there’s something wrong here. Maturity isn’t something that has to be learned. It comes with age and shouldn’t have to be “worked on”. So you hardly ever slap woman anymore. And you try hard not to get liquored up every night. Wow, what a mature man.

I don’t see how he’s making excuses. The guy admitted that what he did was wrong and admitted that he’s not perfect. He even admitted that he shouldn’t have gone as far as to hit that woman. He said that he reacted and that he is constantly working to change. For the most part it has shown. I’m rooting for the guy.

Criticizing Adam for being 29 years old and still having ‘growing up’ to do makes little sense to me. Many guys that start walking the path Adam did in his early 20s either wind up dead or in jail… They simply don’t mature. Ever. On a side note, Adam owes his life to the NFL and Roger Goodell. It’s tough to believe he would have ever gotten his issues even remotely straightened out if weren’t for the tough love and corrective action the league has taken with him over the years. Crazy as it sounds, by doing stuff like he does at the symposium, he has a chance to leave a positive imprint on the league for years to come… But he does need to keep maturing, and it has to be his choice, because the league has already provided more than enough guidance for him.

Appreciate you leaving the article Darin! Listen as I stated 2 weeks ago the guy is a work in progress but he is doing things in Cincy that he NEVER tried to do before…MATURE, CHANGE, GROW. Level headed thinking people who understand and don’t always run to judgement get that change is a process! I’m glad he is fighting to be a new guy to be a different guy… At least he didn’t progress to carrying out the crap some guy in NE carried out…

So lets look at the changes:
1.Doesnt drink
2.Doesnt hang out to 3 and 4
3. Fired the hanger ons and dont invite them to his house to drink
4.Helping in the community in Cincy and with the NFL.

All things he didnt de earlier in his career…You know people call this???? Positive Progress and Maturity…Stay focused Adam! and make plays on the field for my team this year…We will need ya.

You people who defend this CLOWN need to look in the MIRROR and ask yourself some serious questions about yourself and life in general.??!!!! I am going to point out to you 2 really good human being and HOF football players out. Ever heard of Art Monk and Darrell Green before. These 2 men are exactly what football players should look and act like. Great players on the field and great human being off the field. Both of them in their prime made headlines for on the field and NOT for off the field antics like this PUNK dose every year that he has been in football.

Interesting how some people think it is so easy to just change your character and nature overnight just like that. Comparing him to Darrell Green and Art Monk doesn’t make sense. Those guys were NEVER knuckleheads to begin with. So they didn’t have the struggle of trying live a DIFFERENT kind of life. Jones isn’t starting from the same platform as those guys. He’s lived a different kind of life and he is trying to get to where those guys have been for their entire lives. For some people those changes don’t come as quickly as some of you would like. Recovering addicts have a saying: “One day at a time”.

your argument dose not hold up at all. people come from all sorts of backgrounds and its up to them to make it for whatever its worth. where talking about right or wrong and yes and no hear. if this CLOWN did not get it while he was a young PUNK then what’s ART MONK AND DARRELL GREEN excuse for getting it and turning out like great human beings.??????!!!!!!